Search

California’s Monarch Butterfly Population Plummets to Near-Record Low

We are an online community created around a smart and easy to access information hub which is focused on providing proven global and local insights about sustainability

06 Feb, 2025

This post was originally published on Eco Watch

The Western monarch butterfly population in California has plummeted to a near-record low of less than 10,000 this winter.

The 28th annual Western Monarch Count — conducted by hundreds of partners and volunteers — reported a peak monarch population of 9,119 overwintering butterflies. It was the second lowest on record since the count started in 1997, according to a press release from nonprofit Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

The low number coincides with the proposed protection of monarchs under the U.S. Endangered Species Act by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

“The population’s size is extremely concerning,” said Emma Pelton, a Xerces Society endangered species biologist, in the press release. “We know small populations are especially vulnerable to environmental fluctuations, and we think that’s what happened this year. The record high late summer temperatures and drought in the West likely contributed to the significant drop-off we saw in the third and fourth breeding generations.”

The count represents a steep decline from the more than 200,000 overwintering Western monarchs observed during each of the past three years. The all-time low was fewer than 2,000 recorded in 2020.

Since the 1980s, the Western population of monarchs has declined by over 95 percent, reported the Los Angeles Times. Back then, it was estimated that as many as four million butterflies spent the winter in California, the state’s fish and wildlife department said.

Unless urgent conservation efforts are taken, FWS says Western monarchs face a 99 percent chance of becoming extinct by 2080.

Pelton said a number of factors threaten the species throughout their migratory range, including habitat loss, pesticides and increasingly extreme weather due to climate change.

The recent Los Angeles county wildfires burned tree groves that monarchs use as overwintering habitat, including one site in Lower Topanga Canyon.

Santa Cruz County hosted the largest overwintering clusters observed during the last count. The highest mid-season counts were found at Lighthouse Field State Park with 1,406 butterflies, Natural Bridges State Park with 1,400 monarchs and Moran Lake with 645, the press release said.

San Luis Obispo County’s Pismo Beach monarch Butterfly Grove had the fourth biggest count in late November with 556 Western monarchs, followed by the Skywest Golf Course in the Bay Area with 477 individuals.

A site owned by The Nature Conservancy in Santa Barbara that had top counts in the past — including 33,200 last winter — had only 198 monarchs this time around.

“The iconic monarch butterfly is cherished across North America, captivating children and adults throughout its fascinating lifecycle. Despite its fragility, it is remarkably resilient, like many things in nature when we just give them a chance,” said Martha Williams, former director of FWS, in a December statement, as the Los Angeles Times reported. “Science shows that the monarch needs that chance.”

Western monarchs are separated from their Eastern counterparts by the Rocky Mountains. Eastern monarchs spend their winters each year in central Mexico. Both geographically distinct monarch species make their migrations over multiple generations.

Western monarchs generally overwinter clustered in sheltered tree groves along the California Coast and northern Baja, Mexico.

“A lot of people care about monarchs. Voluntary efforts like pollinator gardens and restoring habitat are probably a reason they aren’t in worse shape,” said Isis Howard, Western Monarch Count coordinator with the Xerces Society, in the press release. “However, these actions are not enough. To help monarchs recover, we need to work at a larger scale and address widespread issues like pesticide contamination and climate change that are beyond what voluntary efforts have been able to achieve.”

When the proposed listing by FWS is finalized, it is expected to lead to better support for Western monarchs, including improved overwintering habitat protection in California and increased incentives for the restoration of breeding habitat.

An ongoing concern is the contamination of milkweed by pesticides. Research by University of Nevada-Reno and the Xerces Society in California’s Central Valley found that the leaves of the plant — the monarch caterpillars’ food source — were contaminated by 64 distinct pesticides.

One of the pesticides — methoxyfenozide — is likely highly toxic to monarch caterpillars and was found in 96 percent of tested milkweed samples.

Currently the only insect species taken into consideration by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s testing of pesticides is the adult honey bee, for which methoxyfenozide was classified as “practically non-toxic.”

The Xerces Society and Earthjustice in December formally petitioned the EPA to include native wildlife such as solitary bees, bumble bees, moths and butterflies in their assessment of pesticide risks to pollinators.

“We know pesticides are a key driver of monarch and other pollinator declines. Yet there are glaring gaps in the EPA’s oversight of pesticides: the vast majority of pesticides have never been tested for their impacts on butterflies,” said Rosemary Malfi, Xerces Society’s director of conservation policy, in a statement, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. “How can we protect these essential species if we’re missing the basic information needed to make better decisions?”

The post California’s Monarch Butterfly Population Plummets to Near-Record Low appeared first on EcoWatch.

Pass over the stars to rate this post. Your opinion is always welcome.
[Total: 0 Average: 0]

You may also like…

“They’re Turning Pollution Into Candy!”: Chinese Scientists Stun the World by Making Food from Captured Carbon Emissions

IN A NUTSHELL 🌱 Chinese researchers have developed a groundbreaking method to convert methanol into sucrose, bypassing traditional agriculture. 🔬 The innovative in vitro biotransformation (ivBT) system uses enzymes to transform methanol derived from industrial waste into complex sugars. 🌍 This method contributes to sustainability by utilizing carbon dioxide as a raw material, supporting carbon […]
The post “They’re Turning Pollution Into Candy!”: Chinese Scientists Stun the World by Making Food from Captured Carbon Emissions appeared first on Sustainability Times.

Battery life and EV cybersecurity projects receive funding

Battery life and EV cybersecurity projects receive funding

Swinburne University of Technology researchers have been awarded close to $920,000 to advance two projects for battery life and EV cybersecurity, securing a portion of over $46 million shared across 75 new projects.

The university received the funding in the latest round of Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Linkage Projects 2024. The scheme, part of the ARC’s National Competitive Grants Program, funds research that delivers practical benefits and strengthens Australia’s innovation and industry capabilities.

Swinburne’s Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Professor Karen Hapgood, said, “These projects demonstrate how our researchers are partnering with industry to deliver practical solutions, from extending the life of battery systems to securing Australia’s electric vehicle infrastructure. It’s a powerful example of how university research is driving innovation and supporting a more sustainable, technologically advanced future.”

The first of the two projects, led by Professor Weixiang Shen, received $449,882 to extend the lifetime of battery energy storage systems for power grids.

“This project will enable my team to develop an innovative control strategy to actively manage the operating conditions of an individual battery cell using digital twin technology. It offers an excellent opportunity to implement and validate our approach in inverter-less battery energy storage systems provided by our industry partner, which uniquely enables cell-level control within the system,” Shen said.

“The project’s outcomes will strengthen Australia’s leadership in advanced energy storage technologies, support the growth of the domestic manufacturing sector, and contribute to the creation of high-skilled jobs.”

Aiming to enhance energy storage performance, the three-year project will develop new strategies to slow battery aging within each cell. It will use digital twin technology, combining deep learning and electrochemical modelling, to predict the impact of operating conditions on battery aging and regulate these conditions to control the aging process and extend battery life.

Working in partnership with Relectrify Pty Ltd, the project team will support Australia’s transition to sustainable energy by delivering longer battery life and reduced downtime so that battery systems can produce more over time.

The second project, led by Professor Yang Xiang, received $474,531 to address cybersecurity challenges in electric vehicle charging stations.

“This grant will allow my team to build advanced cybersecurity tools that address the challenges posed by the interaction between EV charging stations, diverse EVs, the national power grid and wireless communication protocols,” Xiang said.

“It creates a unique opportunity to generate novel research insights, validate solutions in real-world settings, and produce tools with strong commercialisation potential. Its outcomes support sustainable economic growth by enabling the safe uptake of EVs, reducing emissions and creating jobs.”

Electric vehicle charging stations are widely deployed, but they face complex security risks due to the diversity of electric vehicles, their connection to the power grid, and wireless communication with users. The three-year project aims to address these challenges by functionality-guided, update-guided and greybox-guided fuzzing techniques.

Working in partnership with T-POWER Pty Ltd, the project team will explore methods for testing charging stations and developing advanced tools to secure EV infrastructure and improve cybersecurity within Australia’s expanding sustainable transport sector.

Image credit: iStock.com/narvo vexar

Extreme Weather Is Now Normal Weather in the UK: Met Office Report

Extreme Weather Is Now Normal Weather in the UK: Met Office Report

Extreme heat, excessive rainfall, ongoing droughts — these conditions are now considered the new normal, according to the latest State of the UK Climate report from the UK Met Office. The report highlights several alarming trends, including warming at the rate of 0.25°C per decade in the UK. The past three consecutive years have ranked […]
The post Extreme Weather Is Now Normal Weather in the UK: Met Office Report appeared first on EcoWatch.

0 Comments